But You Didn't Cycle All of That

Rush Center Kansas to Nickerson Kansas.  91 miles.

Today was a fantastic day in Kansas!  We were up early and rode a tough 31 miles into Larned before stopping for a quick bite to eat.  Let me back up a bit, because I don't recall having mentioned earlier that we have made another Australian friend, with whom we have been traveling for about a week.  Her name is Kim, she is 24 and from Bunbury, a place in western Australia.  By "traveling with" I mean that we've been at the same park each evening, and therefore each morning.  We have done some riding in relatively close proximity, and at other times, Riley & I haven't seen her all day, like today.

Today, Riley & I actually hit the road first, which is a first in itself.  After a tough but good paced 31 miles, we arrived in Larned feeling quite peckish and looking for some tasty viddles.  We found those at the Beyer Deli.  Just across the street from the deli, there was a guy working on his lawn, so I thought that, before going into the deli, I'd ask him if there was a better choice for breakfast around.  He said no, and then began to tell me stories about the original "bikecentennial" and some of the various, kooky cyclists that he has seen since. By this time Riley was in the deli, so I went over; asw soon as I stepped inside, every eye in the place, which was about a dozen pairs, were locked on me.  I thought, "What have I done?  This is either very bad or very good, but it can't be neutral."

I don't think that I have mentioned earlier, just how warm a reception that touring cyclists receive throughout the state of Kansas, and if I have I certainly have not done justice to the warmth and hospitality.  Camp for free in the city park, swim and shower for free at the municipal pool.  Locals smiling, friendly, making us feel truly welcome.  The hospitality has been almost overwhelming, until today that is.  Today, the balance was pushed all of the way over, and it began in Larned.

As I stepped into the deli, I was immediately greeted with directions: "You order over there.  If you're from the  same place as this young man here, then you don't have to put a pin in the map, because he's already taken care of that."

The people simply could not have been more engaging and genuinely interested in who we were, where we'd come from, where we were headed, and what route we were planning to use to get there.  The owner had each of us sign a guest book that is specifically for passing cyclists.  It was genuinely difficult to take our leave and get back on the road, and by the time that we did, we had no idea if Kim was still behind or ahead of us.  That was until a local cyclist asked if we knew a single female rider... Then we knew that she was ahead by 20 or so minutes.

 I know that I've mentioned how handy it is to have a smartphone along, and today was no exception.  Riley's bike somehow lost a brake pad, so he's been riding the last 4 or 5 days with only a front brake.  This isn't so bad in nice, flat Kansas, but we will be hitting the Ozark's at some point, and he will need 2 good brakes for that.  Well, the phone told us that Hutchinson has a bike shop, that they are open until 4:00 on Saturday, and not open on Sunday at all.  We had this fin the back of our minds last night as we went to bed.  The next logical stop was Nickerson, about 90 miles away, and Hutchinson was just 10 miles beyond that.  When we couldn't extract ourselves from Larned any quicker than we did, we decided to try our hands once again, at hitchiking, in an attempt to reach Hutch before 4:00.

Now the truth is that the hitchiking wasn't too terribly much faster than riding, but that's because there was so little traffic on the road we were travelling.  What was amazing was that about 90% of all the vehicles that passed us while we were off our bikes by the side of the road, stopped.  Having the thumb out almost seemed not to matter.  The people all stopped to ask if we were okay, and if we needed any assistance that they might be able to offer, even if they knew that they couldn't give the 2 of us and our bikes a ride.

Jeff and Blake, father and son ranchers, gave me a good laugh.  After asking if we were okay and where we were going, Jeff said, "Well, we're going to that intersection and then we're turning left."

The intersection was clearly visable about 200 yards away.  I laughed and chided him for pulling over just to tease us, and told him how mad my mom would be when she found out.  We bade one another fond farewells, and off they went, to the intersection and then left.  But they didn't gain much speed.  Then they began to slow down.  The next thing you know, they had backed up to where they had left us, told us that they had some cattle in Reno County that they could stand to look in on, so off we were for a lift of about 20 miles.  We had a couple of other lifts from nice people, but the prize goes to Florence Kilbourn.

After being dropped off by Jeff and Blake, we were at an intersection of 2 local county roads.  Our method today, due to the very low traffic volume, was to ride until a vehicle was spotted coming from behind, then quickly pull over, get off and stick out the thumb.  Well, we simply hadn't had enough time to get back to riding after Jeff and Blake dropped us off, but we were not just milling about either.  Florence was driving the road that crossed our direction of travel, and stopped.  Florence is a woman about my mother's age, so it sort of felt like my mom had pulled up:  "Are you two alright?  Do you have enough water?  Aren't you hot?  Do you know how to get there and how far it is?  Are you sure you're alright?  How much water do you have with you? Have you had lunch?  When did you eat?"  It was all very endearing because it is exactly how my mom questions me about the trip, and just how my wife Corky does as well.

After giving Florence numerous assurances that we would indeed be fine, that we were not in danger, and not particularly hungry at that moment, she wished us well and was again on her way, or so it seemed.  We started riding, got one of the other rides that I mentioned, and were perhaps 20 miles from where we met Florence, and as fate would have it, we were also on foot preparing to recommence riding once again.  Wouldn't you know it?  Up pulls Florence!  She rolled down her window and asked if we had time enough for some sandwiches!  Florence had gone home, made 4 ham sandwiches, cooked 2 ears of corn, gotten together a large pitcher of ice water, then drove about 20 miles to track us down and feed us!  Thanks Florence!

Of course you can easily predict that we ended up squeezing our 2 bikes, all our gear and ourselves into her smallish 4 door hatchback crossover - whatever make it was, it was not an "eligible" vehicle - and then Florence drove us the remaining 20 or so miles to deliver us at the bike shop's doorstep at about 3:20.  We would not have made it without you Florence.  It wasn't a life or death situation, but still, you have touched our hearts today.

Without going into all of the details that she told us while we were driving and eating, Florence has (or had) stage 4 breast cancer and was given 6 months to live, about 9 years ago.  Last year she had to have open-heart surgery and felt so horrible afterward that she prayed to die.  When that didn't happen, she figured that God must have some unfinished business with her, so she looks for ways to help other people.  Today, it was Riley and I who received a blessing from God, by way of Florence Kilbourn.

Other people have been wonderful as well, like the Ride for MS team members who were headed west.  We used their sevices to get our cell numbers back to Kim when we knew that we had passed her (in a truck).  When we finally got in to Nickerson for the night, I went to the grocery store to ask where the city park was.  I first encountered two guys delivering ice, and the next thing I know, there's a 20 pound bag of ice cubes slung over my shoulder to help me stay cool.  The people in the store were proud to say that we could sleep in the park for free and that there is a shower and water park for us to use...

When I sat down to type this, I asked Kim, "How far was it from Rush Center to here?"  She told me, "90.6 miles, but you didn't cycle all of it."  Very true Kim.  And I'm glad and not the least bit apologetic, because if we had, we would have missed some wonderful encounters with some truly wonderful people.